(VOVworld) - Vietnamese students at the University of New South Wales (Australia) hosted a get-together on Saturday, celebrating the lunar New Year (Tet) holiday. At the function, Vietnamese General Consul to Sydney Mai Phuoc Dung extended Tet wishes to the participants and noted the gathering is a chance for the students to enjoy the joyful atmosphere of the traditional Tet holiday, ease their homesickness, and consolidate solidarity. He expressed hope the Vietnamese Students Association in New South Wales, and Australia, will be established very soon to coordinate students movements in Australia. The students make Banh Chung (a savoury Tet cake made of glutinous rice, pork, green bean, and pepper), sticky rice, pork pie, and many other Tet dishes to make the party more friendly and cozier.

On Saturday, 100 students and their parents attended a New Year festival and the inauguration ceremony of a Vietnamese school for Vietnamese children in Tokyo. The school started a new school year on January 18, with one class for pre-school children and two classes for primary school children. It is designed to not only teach Vietnamese language but organise extracurricular activities during the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday, Mid-Autumn Festival (the eighth full-moon month), and Vietnam Teachers’ Day to educate children about traditional culture.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Doan Xuan Hung acknowledged relevant parties’ efforts in building the school and expressed his hope the model will be replicated across Japan in the near future. Do Van Trung, Educational Counselor of the Vietnamese Embassy, stressed the school will help preserve Vietnamese identity and language for Vietnamese generations in Japan.  He revealed the model will be multiplied in Japan after the test run.  

In Moscow, a football and badminton tournament for 200 Vietnamese students and youths was held on Saturday. Vietnamese Counselor to Russia Nguyen Hung said that the event is a useful playground for young people to boost their mutual understanding, exchanges and sports practice. The competition will last until February 7.